
LESSON 6 August 2-8
6 Tie Law' of Lor
"This is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws
into their mind, and write them in their
hearts: and I will be to them a God, and
they shall be to me a people" (Heb.
8:10).
This memory verse needs hiding in
each Christian's heart. It shows that a
believer's salvation and obedience
come not from a keeping of
commandments to earn salvation,
but as a result of God's saving grace
and power working in the mind of
God's child. It is God who makes the
covenant; He puts His laws in the
mind, and He writes them upon the
heart. The Lord offers Himself as our
God and accepts us as His people.
If God wants to write His laws in
our minds, what can be wrong in
cheerfully observing those laws?
Nothing! Yet, mention of law,
especially the Ten Commandment
law, arouses much opposition in
many minds, for they equate law
keeping with salvation by works.
They agree that it is wrong to
blaspheme, to kill, to commit
adultery, to steal, and would hesitate
to accuse those who do not commit
these sins of being legalists. Yet,
when observance of the fourth
commandment is advocated, big
theological guns are turned against
the Decalogue and those who
recommend its precepts.
These considerations call for a
fresh look at the law of the Lord. We
need to perceive its kind
purpose—to guide us into life, not to
condemn us to death. At the same
time, its condemnation of our sins
leads us to repentance. We need to
grasp its scope—it covers every part
of our lives. We need to see its
spiritual nature, its concern with the
inner thoughts that produce outward
acts.
For our part, we should see
obedience as love's response to
divine concern.
"If
ye love me," you
will "keep my commandments." As
Meister Eckhart, the
fourteenth-century mystic, is
reputed to have observed: "Love
God, and do as you please, say the
Free Spirits. Yes, but as long as you
like anything contrary to God's will,
you do not love Him."
Our reference to law should not be
restricted to God's Ten Words. Both
the Old and the New Testament are
filled with counsel, even coamands,
that are not directly related to the
Decalogue. This helps us to view the
law as an expression of God's loving
will for us and not as a series of
prohibitions that always run counter
to our inborn inclinations.
DAILY HIGHLIGHTS
1.
The Creator and Law
(Ps. 45:6)
2.
Man and God's Law
(Ps. 19:7, 8)
3.
Primacy of God
(Ex. 20:3)
4.
Reverence for God
(Ex. 20:4, 5)
5.
Remember the Sabbath
(Ex. 20:8)
6.
Sabbath Observance
(Isa. 58:13, 14)